The Rarest Love
by whorrecruxes
Summary: A Gryffindor and a Slytherin? No, no no. Of course that could never happen. Especially with him... My sixth year at Hogwarts was going to be nothing like any of the others.


"Out of my way, _mudblood._" I heard from behind me. I turned around and saw Malfoy talking to Hermione as we were passing him on the train.

"Don't call her that." I glared.

"Or what?" he threatened.

I stepped closer, "I saved your life, Malfoy. Next time I'll just look the other way."

"Whatever." He glanced over me one last time before turning away and leaving.

Hermione and I returned to our compartment where we met Harry and Ron, along with Neville. They were all discussing their summer adventures while I returned to my seat by the window, staring at the hills and forests passing by.

I recalled the night, where, as far as I'm concerned, I saved Malfoy's life. It was when Harry believed Voldemort had Sirius, and we took off to the Ministry of Magic. When the Death Eaters showed up, he was with him. He wasn't fighting, no, just hiding back in the corner and watching the fight go on, only watching out for himself. Hermione and I had both just casted a spell on the same target, "_Impedimenta!' and, 'Stupefy!' _our voices rang together. It sent him back with great force, throwing him into the old wall. Seconds after, a misaimed spell hit that wall also. I was minding my own business, defending myself. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something huge falling from the ceiling. It appeared to be stone, or cement, I'm not sure. But my eyes saw Malfoy standing underneath it. I still don't know why I did it. Maybe because to me, he was still a kid; the way he was always acting so immature. Instinctively I raised my wand towards it, yelling, '_Reducto' _and causing it to break apart into many smaller pieces, leaving him relatively unharmed. That's really all I remember. I fell unconscious soon after.

The train arrived at Hogsmeade, we had our feast, and the first days of the school year had begun. We were surprised to find out that Snape had finally become professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts. And to no surprise, he gave us an essay. The new potions professor was a round man called Slughorn. He seemed like he knew what he was doing, until the third day of class.

"Back in my day, there wasn't so much hatred between Gryffindor and Slytherin. So in an attempt of a little idea of mine, we'll do a project; assigning one student from each house per pair."

There wasn't one person who didn't groan after he announced that. He began pairing us up, giving us each a reason to flinch.

"And uh, you, miss." He pointed at me. "With…. Mr. Malfoy I believe."

It was like the air was knocked right out of me. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I wanted to stand up and argue, find some way out of this. But then again, there really wasn't _any _Slytherin I'd want to work with.

"Might as well fail this project for us now." Malfoy said loud enough for his audience to hear him.

Okay, so Potions wasn't my strongest subject. Ever since I transferred here in the third year, Snape has been giving me extra homework and lessons. He wasn't always nice about it, but I think he appreciated that I wasn't a slacker. Malfoy has just always happened to be present when I've done something wrong. And as usual he would make some joke to the class. But I found it hurt more now than ever because of all the extra work I've put in. Personally I thought I was getting along decently. Even Snape said I was loads better than when we first began.

I felt my eyes tear up and my cheeks became hot. I looked back at Malfoy, ready to give him a dirty look. The corners of my mouth were already pulled down; but not to scowl at him, but to fight back the lump in my throat. For a moment, he quit laughing, looked down and turned back around. I did the same, facing the front of the room as Hermione comforted me.

The rest of classed dragged on while I doodled on my parchment. It finally ended and I put my things in my bag. I went out to meet Hermione, Harry, and Ron in the corridor when I heard someone walking really close behind me.

"Just meet me in the library after supper." I saw a head of blonde hair brushing beside me.

"He's rotten, Autumn. Don't let him get to you." Ron said when I caught up to them.

"He's a complete ass, is what he is." I added.

Soon after, Harry and Ron left for Quidditch tryouts while Hermione and I headed up to the common room to work on our essays. We outlined them and began writing, bouncing ideas off each other. Harry and Ron would always get annoyed by the way we read out loud what we wrote and constantly debated with each other. Before we knew it, the guys had returned and we all walked down to dinner. I wasn't very hungry, and ended up playing with my food more then I ate it, while Ron discussed how great he thought the team was going to be this year.

It finally came time for me to return up to the common and grab my things to begin my research with Malfoy. I dragged my feet all the way to the library and sat down at a desk when I arrived. He walked in a few minutes later.

"Let's just get this over with." He said with a disgusted look upon his face.

"Exactly what I was thinking." I removed my scarf from around my neck and placed it in the chair beside me. "I guess I'll go get some books." I grabbed ones on basic elements of potion making, theories of potions, and pretty much anything I thought would be helpful.

I returned, spreading them out between us. "I figured we could start out by reading the basics and forming our research from there." I suggested.

"Are you sure you can handle that?" He asked.

"I think I know how to read." I slammed a book in front of me and opened it. I started taking notes on beginning to form a potion, choosing ingredients, and so on. It wasn't until a half hour later that Malfoy spoke.

"Have you got anything?" He asked.

"Yes, I've got a lot actually."

"Let me see it, then."

"Have _you _got anything?"

"No, I sort of figured you could do all the boring stuff."

I rolled up my parchment and grabbed the two books I was reading from.

"You call me stupid, yet you want to copy my work? That's not how it works." I stormed out of the library, cursing under my breath the whole way back to the tower. I couldn't believe him! He has no problem making me sound like an idiot in class, but wants _my _answers. No, I'm not just going to hand them over. I know we're supposed to be acting as partners, but there's no way. He's not even close to possibly acting like a normal person. I vented to the others when I finally reached the common room. They all agreed on how big of a hypocrite he was. It was then I decided I wasn't going to make this easy for him.

As I laid in my bed, thinking about anything and everything, I realized how hungry I now was. I reached into my bag and grabbed two of the cookies I'd brought from home. I fell asleep soon after, as I remembered waking up early the day I left for Hogwarts, to help my brother bake all sorts of goods.

The next morning was particularly chilly. I searched everywhere for my scarf when I remembered I had left it in the library. I went downstairs to ask Madam Pince if she's seen it, but she glared at me, showing no sign of confirmation. I walked around all morning with my robes pulled up as far as they would go around my neck.

Something that had brightened my day though, was the announcement of the sixth-year muggle camping trip. We've spent all week reviewing how we ended our fifth year, and were finally going to put our knowledge to use. Luckily, I've gone camping several times with my aunt and knew a great amount about muggle life. There were also others who groaned when this was announced.

I continued to ignore Malfoy during the rest of the week. He had really pissed me off, and I wasn't going to give in to him. I already had a great deal of information organized, but I wasn't going to let him know. Once, on Thursday morning, he asked me if I've been working, and I simply shrugged my shoulders and told him, "I don't know. But I'm going to take advantage of the fact that I'm a factor in your grade too."

Friday came, and after our last afternoon class, we were instructed to pack clothes and things for the camping trip. We were fortunately allowed to use magic to help transport all of our things to the campsite right outside of Hogsmeade by the forest. But once we got there, we were instructed to put and keep our wands away, otherwise, we'd lose marks and House points.

I was shocked to see some Slytherins here, but apparently it was enough of an excuse to give us an extended due date on Snape's and Slughorn's assignments. This explained the random groups of Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs too.

It took almost an hour for everybody to get their tents up. Hermione and I had ours up first, followed by the Gryffindor boys. It started getting dark quickly, so I volunteered to go find some wood for a fire. It was even darker in the woods and I was tempted to use my wand to light my way, but my eyes began to adjust, making it easier to see. I bent down, using my hand to feel around for sticks and I grabbed a handful. Beside me, I heard something crack and instinctively, I grabbed my wand. My heart pounded as I waited for something to happen.

"Hello?" I said minute later.

"It's just me." I ball of bright light appeared a few yards away, and I saw Malfoy standing there.

"Oh, awesome, here to tell me my tent is put up wrong?"

"No, I'm here to give you this."

He stretched out his arm and a saw my scarf loosely wrapped around his hand.

"It's not jinxed or anything, right? Not trying to strangle me?"

He got a suddenly annoyed look on his face, obviously agitated by my comments.

"Listen, I just wanted to apologize for…for expecting you to do all the work."

I honestly wouldn't have believed him, but it sound like it was killing him to say that. I knew it must have been at least somewhat sincere.

"You wouldn't have said that if anyone else was around, but thanks."

I grabbed my pile of sticks off the ground and headed back to the tent. I wrapped my scarf all snug around my neck, grateful for the warmth it supplied.

"I thought you lost your scarf?" Hermione asked.

"I thought I did too, but it was stuffed in my robes." I lied.

Later, as I stared into the bright fire, I realized that was the only act of kindness, if you would even call it that, ever performed by Malfoy since I've been at Hogwarts.

We chatted during the night until we were disrupted by a commotion coming from behind us. We turned and saw Malfoy with the pant of his leg on fire. He quickly shot water from his wand as everyone laughed.

"5 points from Slytherin for use of magic." Professor Burbage said.

Everyone giggled while I just stared, and Malfoy looked over at me once before disappearing into his tent. As much of a jerk as he was to me, I never laughed at him or anyone else. Unless of course Ron said something funny in class. But it was always in a playful taste. It wasn't much longer before we all headed to bed.

The next day, we were allowed to do pretty much anything, as long as it didn't involve the use of magic. For those willing to brave it were able to go swimming in the lake. I agreed to go in after lunch with Harry and Ron. We've been wanting to go all day but decided to wait until it was the warmest out. We took off our socks and shoes, robes, and tip toed our way in. The water wasn't terribly cold… just took some getting used to. After about a half hour of swimming, splashing, and playing, I heard someone calling my name and saw Malfoy by the side of the lake.

"What does _he _want?" Asked Harry.

"Probably wants to talk about our project." I answered.

I made my way over to him.

"We need to finish our research." He told me

I looked him over, trying to decide whether or not I should finally agree to help him.

"Okay, let me go get changed." I agreed. I could give him one more chance. After all I was more mature than him.

I dragged me and my wet clothes back to my tent. When I appeared at the campsite, Professor Burbage caught sight of me.

"Oh! Miss Kitching, you're soaked."

"I went swimming. But I have other clothes I can change into."

She dried my clothes for me right there.

"Thank you, professor."

I grabbed my books and supplies, then headed back through the woods to the lake. I saw Malfoy already sitting beside a tree, reading a book.

I found myself oddly staring at him. He seemed to be in such a pleasant environment; the sun was shining, there was laughter in the background. He just didn't seem like he fitted in the picture.

"Okay, I'm back." I sat down, leaving a safe amount of space between us. "Honestly, I already have all of the notes we need. I have the procedures, cautions, and examples." I told him.

He looked at me strangely. I couldn't tell if he was upset I had all this done and made him thought we weren't going to have time to finish it, or if he was relieved he had barely any work to do, or if he even thought I was a complete nerd. I'm going to go with the last one.

"Good," he nodded his head. "How about you finalize your paper and I'll start on the potion."

Now I was the one staring at him in confusion. Could it possibly be this easy? He's not arguing, or starting a fight, or anything. I put my notes in between us as he began doing his part, and me finishing mine. I believed we worked for a half hour straight. The only time we talked was when Malfoy couldn't read what I had written, or if he needed me to elaborate. I couldn't believe how weird this felt. I've never once had a normal conversation with him, and here he was being civil as I explained things to him. Most of the time he wouldn't even look at me, just nod his head and continue to write.

Malfoy's gang of Crabbe, Goyle, and Parkinson walked up to us.

"Come on Draco, aren't you done with this twit?" Pansy said.

"Excuse me?" I stood up, facing her. I was ready to reach for my wand.

"What? Can't use magic, it's against the rules." She said, with her snotty nose in the air.

"I can do whatever I want." I put my wand between us as she backed away.

"She's not going to do anything." Malfoy said, and seemed to be back to his normal self. "Don't be such a coward." He glared at her. "Crabbe, Goyle, let's go."

And with that, they all left. Of course they did, Malfoy had gotten all he needed from me. He had no need to bother being 'nice'. I sighed, then picked up my notes. I stared at them as I decided what to do next.

I gathered with Hermione and the others back at the campsite, ready for dinner. We roasted sausages over the fire that Harry successfully started.

Fire, I always found myself getting lost in it. Something about all the different colors in the flames, and just all the warmth it gave you. I started getting lost in my own thoughts, thinking about a variety of things. I suddenly realized I had forgotten to write my brother to tell him how my year is starting off. I went into the tent to get my quill, but I couldn't find it. I must have left so quickly earlier by the lake that I left it lying there.

"I'll be right back," I stood up, "I forgot something by the lake." I told them.

"Okay, don't be long though in case Burbage wanders by." Ron told me.

I agreed, then made my way back through the woods by the lakeside. As I began walking, I suddenly started to become very hot. It felt like I was walking beside fire. I loosened my scarf and took my gloves off, finding little relief.

'_Oh well," _I thought. "_I'll be back to the campsite in a few minutes."_

I found the tree I was sitting by earlier and saw my quill by the stump, as I expected. When I stood up, dizziness flooded my head and my vision blurred. I had to lean against the tree until I could stand properly. In the distance, I saw two figures who seemed to be talking, both in dark clothing. One who seemed to have extremely light hair.

With still no relief, I managed to walk to the lake, kneel down, and splash cold water on my face. It cooled me down temporarily, but I kept doing it. At the same time, I tried to catch my breath. It felt like I couldn't get enough air into my lungs.

"Kitching?" A voice from behind me scared me, and I fell over.

I blinked the water out of my eyes and saw who was standing above me.

"Oh, it's you, Draco."

"What's wrong with you?" He asked

I just stared up at him, not really sure how to respond.

"Are you at all hot? It feels really hot out." I asked him.

I crawled up onto my feet, and had to catch my balance.

"You need a nurse. You're even weirder than usual."

"Wait, Draco, who's that?" I pointed behind him as I saw that same figure walk into the woods.

For some reason, I started to run after it. I didn't feel like myself, more like I was outside of my body, and could see me running through the woods. I couldn't believe how lucky I was to not trip or run into any trees. The only light I had was from the moon. I stopped when I reached a small clearing. I was gasping even harder now. I heard something snap in the darkness in front of me. I reached for my wand, but couldn't find it anywhere. Through those shadows, two shapes formed and came closer towards me. It wasn't until they got a few yards away that I could tell they were men. I rubbed my eyes and finally got a better sight of them. They seemed like they were hunters, with their camouflage gear and guns in front of them. How far away from the campsite had I gone?

"Lookie here, what is a young woman like yourself doing out here?" One said.

I didn't answer.

"Why don't you come back with us, sweetie? We can get you over that shyness with a few drinks." Said the other.

I felt scared and absolutely vulnerable. My wand was the only thing I had to protect me. I started getting extremely hot again, and leaned up for support against the tree behind me. They stepped closer towards me.

"Don't come any closer!" I said with as much might that I could.

I know found it impossible to breathe. I didn't know any other ways to defend myself. But air found its way back into my lungs when I saw a jet of blue light come from my right, then another, and the two guys fell down backwards.

"Draco.." I tried to say as I took a step towards him, but then felt the coolness of the ground against my cheek.

All I remember is hearing voices fade in, and then out. I wanted to speak, and to move, but I felt like I had not a single ounce of energy in my body.

"Professor, she-"

"What did you do to her!"

"I didn't do anything!"

I was moving, but it wasn't by my doing. I felt arms around me, carrying me. I could hear his heart beating in his chest, then everything faded.

Then I heard Harry and Ron on both sides of me.

"I don't buy it. I bet Malfoy saw her leave and chased her down or something. She's not stupid enough to go wandering off without her wand." Said Harry.

"Yeah, and what were muggles doing out here anyway. A load of crap if you ask me." Ron said.

The next time I woke up, I was able to move and actually sit up. I realized I was in the hospital wing back in Hogwarts. To my left was a side table full of cards and candies. I realized I was starving and ate whatever I saw while I read the cards. Nice little ones from Hermione, Ron, and Harry, even Neville and Luna. Lying behind everything else was just a little torn piece of paper.

'You saved mine. I saved yours.

We're even.'

There was no need of a signature to know who that was from. Wait, so did that mean it was Malfoy who was carrying me back to the campsite. That couldn't be possible. Surely, he would have left me there, not caring what happened.

A few minute later, Madam Pomfrey walked in.

"How are you feeling, Miss Kitching?" She asked.

"Great, although I don't know what was wrong with me."

"Well, I'm assuming by the bite mark, you were in the lake and got bit by a poisonous creature. Gave off awful toxins into your body."

"Oh, well, good thing I ended up here."

"Oh yes, you should give that Malfoy boy a big thank you."

"I'll be sure to do that. Am I okay to go?"

"Yes. And you should make it in time just for lunch."

Great. I was still starving. I headed towards the Great Hall, and it seemed everyone else was too.

"Hey, guys!" I said, sneaking up behind Harry and Ron. "Where's Hermione?"

"Are you feeling better? She's working on homework and should be down in a few minutes." Harry told me.

"Yes, a lot better. And I thought she finished all her work already."

They looked at each other, then back at me.

"Autumn, today is Monday." Ron said.

What? Had I seriously slept that long? No wonder I was starving.

"Oh! Then I missed Potions! Did you guys turn your things in?" I sat down across from them and began eating. Halfway through lunch, I left to go get my work to turn in.

"What are you doing up here?" I asked Hermione. She still hadn't gone down to lunch.

"You're back! How are you feeling?"

"Refreshed. And you never answered my question. Why aren't you at lunch?" I asked again.

"No reason. Just trying to catch up on some work." She used that tone she always used when she tried hiding something.

"Hermione…I'm not buying it."

She stopped writing, then looked at me.

"Oh, alright! It's Ron. Well not Ron, exactly. But, I mean, you know how I feel about him, right?"

"Yes." I smiled to myself.

"He's getting extra attention now because he's on the Quidditch team."

"Don't worry, he'll come around. It's obvious he likes you. I just think he's intimidated."

"By me?"

"Of course by you. You're really smart _and _you're gorgeous."

She smiled.

"Thank you."

"Don't worry about it. But I need to run my work to Snape and Slughorn really quick. So I'll see you in class."

I grabbed my things from my dorm and heading down throughout the corridors. I hit Slughorn first since he was closer.

"Professor?" I knocked on his office door, then it opened.

"Yes? Oh, it's you Miss Kitching. Feeling better?"

"Yes, thank you. I just wanted to give you my paper. Did Malfoy turn the potion in?"

"Yes, he did. It was a success too. So I'll expect you both are getting very good marks."

"Thank you, sir. I have to get going, so see you tomorrow." I told him.

"Okay, good day."

I headed down the corridor and around another, until I reached Snape's office. I knocked on his door as well. A few moments later, it opened and he appeared.

"Out of the hospital wing, are we?" He asked.

"Yes, sir. And I have my essay to turn in."

"Very well, see you in class tomorrow, Miss Kitching."

The door opened wider and Malfoy walked passed me.

"Thanks, professor."

I quickly turned around to catch Malfoy. He was walking so fast.

"Hey!" I finally yelled at him and he stopped.

"What?" He asked, like I had interrupted him in something really important.

"I turned in my paper to Slughorn. He says your potion was great and that we should get good marks on our work."

"I already knew that. Is that all you wanted?"

It took me a moment to respond, and I was obviously taking too long for him so he started to turn back around.

"Wait, I wanted to say…thanks. You know, if it's true or whatever. You could have easily left me there. Thank you." I told him.

He looked me over. It felt like he was looking right through me.

"I'm not that cold of a person." He said, then continued to walk away.

"I never thought you were," too quiet for him to hear.


End file.
